There’s still a couple of weeks of the school holidays to go, so here are some ideas for entertaining your little ones on their days off, including free events, rainy-day activities and inspiration for learning while they play. Plus, you could win a My Fairy Light Garden in my giveaway so read on to enter the competition below..!
IN THE GARDEN
When the weather is as lovely as it has been this summer, the garden is the source of many money-saving activities to entertain the kids. Remember how much fun you had as a kid just by spraying a hose pipe around on hot days? Attach a sprinkler head and you’ve got yourself an at-home water park! A paddling pool is a great way for kids (and grown-ups!) to cool off in this weather. If you have a big enough garden you can encourage little ones to play sports or learn a skill, such as juggling, skipping or performing tricks with Diablo. If you don’t have a garden, you can take the football, frizbee and badminton rackets to the park and enjoy an active day outdoors instead. And getting youngsters involved in planting flowers or growing their own salad in the veggie patch can be an activity that lasts all summer long as they tend to their plants.
BAKING DAY
This is a great rainy-day activity. If the kids are stuck indoors on a drizzly day, get out the baking gear, pop on an apron and start to stir! There are so many simple recipes that kids of all ages can help with. When my nephew was only a year old we began baking together because he could tip a pre-measured bowl of raisins into my cake mix and use a spoon to give it a stir. I’ve previously blogged about my cornflake-cake-making session with my niece and nephew so have a read to find out how that went. A milk loaf recipe is a fool-proof way to bake bread using only two ingredients and younger kids can just decorate pre-made biscuits with chocolate and sprinkles. The most exciting part of any baking session for the kids? Why, eating what they’ve baked, of course!
EDUCATIONAL TOYS
I don’t know about you, but when I was little I loved playing with educational toys. The kind of activities where you could learn something as well as have fun. And, now that I’m an adult, I like to build a little bit of learning into any games I play with my nieces and nephews. Yes, I’m that much fun! But seriously, why not keep their development going over the summer holidays? Especially when they can play with kits such as Interplay UK’s My Living World nature study kits.
Kids can set up a window bird feeder, watch an art farm, press flowers and use their first microscope thanks to these easy-to-use kits. Youngsters can even go on a bug safari in their own back garden to catch, study and identify mini-beasts. Each activity will hold their attention and teach them something they didn’t know. What a great way to spend those long summer holiday days, eh?
FREE EVENTS
The local event calendar will be jam-packed over the summer holidays so it’s just a case of searching online or checking local noticeboards to find a free event near you. Most councils, groups and markets plan their events over the summer to guarantee good weather so your local city will probably be having a carnival, or a nearby town will be hosting a village fete. Plus libraries, playgroups and sports clubs know that you’ll want to entertain your kids during the 6 week break, so they often put on extra activities during that time. I’m regularly surprised by how many libraries offer free activity sessions for kids, so that should be your first port of call.
And now, on to the competition! It’s one of those educational toys I was talking about – My Fairy Light Garden. This is another Interplay toy that helps children to discover the magic of nature through play. It contains everything you need to set up a fairy garden, including seeds and gravel so that little ones can grow their own grass for the fairies! There are fairy figures, animal friends, a light-up musical house, an activity booklet and even fairy dust! The whole kit is worth £29.99 and one lucky winner will be chosen at random from all the entries. There are plenty of ways to enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter entry form below – good luck!
Giveaway is open to UK residents only. Competition runs from 14th August – 2nd September 2018. 1 winner will be chosen at random from all entries via Rafflecopter and will be contacted by email. The winner will need to provide a delivery address to receive their prize.
56 Responses
We spent lots of time on Brighton beach as we are brightonian 🙂
We got a National Trust membership so we’ve been visiting lots of castles and stately homes we’ve all really enjoyed it.
We have been to the farm, swimming, arts and crafts, baking and lots more fun x
As much as we could.
lots of fun outdoors
Lots of fun days out with the grandkids
Lots of outdoor play and craft making x
We went on a family holiday to Rome which was fantastic.
Stayed with my Dad in Surrey Walton on Thames… Went to birdworld, bushy park, and the park and walks down the river ….. 2 McDonalds
When we got home we went to Chepstow racecourse and met Andy from cbeebies and paw patrols chase and Marshal
we have spent quite a lot of time in the garden and the park
We have been on lots of day trips with our Cheeky Monkey’s.
Looking after our little grandson having lots of fun outdoors .
We went camping at the beginning of the holidays and have then had a few lovely day trips rather than a main summer holiday this year. We have had lots of fun though! xx
Lots of time in the pool in garden
we’ve just arrived home from a week camping the lakes it was lovely – we had all kinds of weather but we were out every day and the kids loved it!
We had a lovely 2 week holiday in Brittany.
We went to Cornwall and it was great but a very long journey with 3 kiddies!
We went camping with friends, and did lots of arts and crafts.
We went strawberry picking one day. That was fun.
We had a pirate day with food, music ,games and activities!
Enjoying the unusually sunny weather, a combination of out and about and doing very little.
Mainly breaking my ankle in 3 places, this made everything else a problem
Mostly working!! The kids had days out with their dad & relatives!
We have been camping and just generally having fun, living at the seaside, there is always plenty to do and see, which can be done on a budget, not costing an arm and a leg
My little girl was very poorly for the first 3 weeks, but luckily we was able to go with my mum to Bristol for a few days with great grandad was lovely.
we had a couple of trips to theme parks
All sorts, loads of days out and a holiday to Cornwall.
Lots of outdoor adventures had a minibreak in Liverpool, went to london, museum to see dippy the list is endless
A variety of Days Out, which was nice :- Ferry trip, etc. Lovely to be outdoors in the sunshine.
day trips to the beach, zoo and swimming
We had a few days camping, a few days out to the safari park and beach etc and just spent a lot of time at home pottering about in the garden!
Lots of time at the local garden centre so many kids activities have been on.
We live near a lovely local park, so lots of picnics , and walks down the canal
I have been spending time on the beach and the park with the grandchildren. Yesterday we went blackberrying and got enough berries to make a pie and a crumble. They are out really early this year.
We’ve been travelling round the lakes and doing some walking xx
We have lots of days out including parks, cycle rides ,long dog walks and we have had family over it is flying by!
We have had a lot of lazy days, baked, did crafts and played far too much on the computers x
We’ve been visiting grandparents, playing in the garden and walking on the beach.
We went to the Xfactor Auditions, visited family in Spain, had friends over and it was mini-me’s first sleep over at ours last night x
We moved house!!
We had our family holiday to Salou, lots of fun days out to theme parks, farms, play dates and park
A lovely week in Scotland and a few days out here in London. Now looking forward to visiting my parents.
We have been to north Wales
We have had lots of days here and there, we visited Blair drummond safari park and met some adorable animals, we also visited Loch ness and went camping during a thunder storm ha ha.
We had a lovely week in Cornwall. The rest of the holidays we have been on day trips and mooching about at home x
we went to Budapest
We have spent a lot of time playing in the garden in the sunshine
Lots of fun in the woodlands
we adopted a dog from the rspca and have been taking it for plenty of exercise and we are all knackered lol x
The back garden has become full of imaginary creatures.
A visit to the Eden Project as we live nearby and lots of time on the beach and in the garden and allotment with my son.
So far a few trips to the shops, to the park and also a couple of days out to new towns we haven’t previously explored.
plenty days out
Lots of play dates and days out.
we had a lovely stay on a farm in devon
We live by the beach so we have spent a lot of time on it – building sandcastles, picnics and even swimming in the sea!